BIO urges Congress to invest in advanced biofuels biobased products

By Susanne Retka Schill

It's unlikely the infant cellulosic ethanol industry will meet the 100 million gallon renewable fuels standard in 2010, said Brent Erickson, executive vice president of Biotechnology Industry Organization's industrial and environmental section. "Given the current economic turndown, the progress for commercialization has slowed down," he told a group of reporters in an early April press briefing. "A major federal investment in the entire value chain of advanced biofuels and biobased products commercialization is needed."

Erickson and 10 BIO members representing second-generation technology development firms held the press briefing as the group prepared to visit Capitol Hill to present the following set of six policy recommendations: